Springfield will probably find itself making do with fewer street workers and utility operators next year.

City Council approved a 2-mill cut in the 4.75-mill property tax rate on this year’s bills, which helps fund City Hall in 2001.

Tuesday’s action will trim about $51,000 from an expected $1.2 million budget.

Immediate impact: six vacant public works jobs will remain unfilled, leaving 10 public works employees on the city’s payroll.

One mill produces $1 of revenue on $1,000 of assessed value, minus any exemptions. In Georgia, property is assessed at 40 percent of fair market value.

Source: Savannah Morning News

From Sept. 13, 2000

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS NEGOTIATE WITH FIRE DEPARTMENTS

The Effingham County Commission had expected to vote Tuesday on an agreement outlining how to split a fire fee between a fledgling county fire department and five volunteer departments.

Instead, it agreed simply to keep talking after a snag developed in negotiations with the fire departments remaining outside the county’s administrative umbrella.

‘’We’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in trucks and equipment this year, and we are frankly dependent on funds from the fee to meet our obligations,’’ said City Council member Paul Wendelken, also a captain in the Rincon department.

The Clyo, North Effingham, Faulkville and Meldrim departments asked in August that they be allowed to form the nucleus of a county fire department.

The existing contract splits a $35-per-house fire and rescue fee to each of the county’s nine fire departments based on the number of homes within service districts.